HBO cancels Bill Simmons’ “Any Given Wednesday”

Next week’s “Any Given Wednesday” will be the last installment of Bill Simmons’ sports-related talk show on HBO, as the cable network has canceled the program, HBO announced Friday.

Simmons took responsibility for the lack of success of the series, which premiered in June and failed to attract attention -- beyond an early episode featuring Ben Affleck that resulted in speculation that the “Argo” star was intoxicated during his interview.

“We loved making that show, but unfortunately it never resonated with audiences like we hoped. And that’s on me,” Simmons said in a statement. “With that said, I want to thank the dedicated staff that worked so diligently with me behind the scenes to make this show every week. We hired so many great and talented people and I loved having them in my life. It’s difficult for me to imagine not working with them anymore.”

HBO will remain in business with the journalist’s Bill Simmons Media Group going forward, however, as the two entities will continue to develop projects under the HBO Sports banner.

“I love being a part of HBO’s family and look forward to innovating with them on other ambitious programming ideas over these next several years -- both for the network and for digital,” Simmons added.

“HBO is committed to Bill Simmons, and we are excited to bring his unique vision to bear on an array of new programming initiatives under the HBO Sports banner in 2017,” HBO Sports’ Peter Nelson said. “Bill is an award-winning executive producer in the documentary arena, and we will work closely with him in developing new and engaging content for our subscribers.”